The French Revolution Begins Flashcards
How many social classes did France used to have?
3, called estates
Define First Estate
It was: -made up of Roman Catholic Church Clergy -the owner of 10% of the land -free from tax They scorned Enlightenment Ideas
Define 2nd estate
What was the second estate? It was:
- made up of rich nobles
- the owner of 20% of the land
- almost free from tax
Disagreed with Enlightenment Ideas
Define 3 rd estate
Everyone else; made up 97% of population
embraced Enlightenment ideas, resented the other two estates and had no power to influence the government
What were the subgroups of the 3rd estate ?
1) The bourgeoisie, or middle class. Some were very rich, but none had second class privileges.
2) The workers. They were tradesmen, apprentices, laborers, and servants. They were the poorest subgroup of the third estate.
3) The peasants, who made up 80% of the population. They were heavily taxed by everyone above them.
What three things led to the French Revolution ?
Enlightenment ideas, economy problems, food shortages, and an unfair social system.
Which three philosophers had the greatest impact on the French revolution?
Rousseau, Voltaire, and Comte D’Antraigues
What contributed to the economic trouble of France
Too much tax, high prices, crop failure (especially bread, a staple of the French diet), royal debt, extravagant spending from the king and queen, aiding the American Revolution
What was the general quality of the leadership of Louis XVI?
Not good
What did the nobles do in response to King Louis XVI trying to tax them in the economy failure?
They demanded that they decide in the Estates General.
What two social classes dominated the Estates General?
First and Second
What did the Enlightenment inspired third estate want to to in the Estates General meeting?
They wanted the vote to be all in one room, instead of the current practice of each estate getting one vote.
What did the king say to the third estate’s ideas regarding the Estates General meeting?
No
How did the third estate respond to the king’s declining of their ideas regarding the Estates General meeting
They decided to make their own assembly
Why did the new third estate assembly have to meet in a tennis court?
The courthouse they were going to use was locked by King Louis XVI
What is the Tennis Court oath ?
The Tennis Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The only person who did not sign was Joseph Martin-Dauch from Castelnaudary, who would not execute decisions not decided by the king.[1] They made a makeshift conference room inside a tennis court, located in the Saint-Louis district of the city of Versailles, near the Palace of Versailles.
Define Estates General
an assembly of representatives from all three estates that met to approve a tax on the nobility
Define Great Fear
The panic and insecurity that struck French peasants (1789-1799) as they heard of rumors about an aristocratic plot to pay beggars and vagrants to burn crops or barns. The rumors inspired violent attacks on aristocrats and the widespread destruction of nobles homes and feudal records.
Define Bastille
Bastille The political prison and armory stormed on July 14, 1789, by Parisian city workers alarmed by the king’s concentration of troops at Versailles.
Who was Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès[a] (3 May 1748 – 20 June 1836), most commonly known as the Abbé Sieyès (French: [sjejɛs]), was a French Roman Catholic abbé, clergyman and political writer.
He was one of the chief political theorists of the French Revolution, and also played a prominent role in the French Consulate and First French Empire.
1789 pamphlet What is the Third Estate? became the de facto manifesto of the Revolution, helping to transform the Estates-General into the National Assembly in June 1789.
Who wrote What is the Third Estate ?
Emmanuel Jospeh Sieyes
What is Declaration of rights of Man and Citizen ?
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), passed by France’s National Constituent Assembly in August 1789, is a fundamental document of the French Revolution and in the history of human rights.[1] The Declaration was directly influenced by Thomas Jefferson, working with General Lafayette, who introduced it.[2] Influenced also by the doctrine of “natural right”, the rights of man are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by law.
Define Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (French: “Constitution civile du clergé”) was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government.
What is the National Convention ?
As the French Revolution was reforming France, crises over what to do about the monarchy led France’s newly created Legislative Assembly to call for the formation of a new representative body called the National Convention to decide what to do about the monarchy. On September 21st 1792 the Convention abolished the monarchy and the next day declared France a republic. By 1793 the Convention was dominated by Jacobins who instituted government by Terror, and after they were swept away in 1794 a new constitution was drawn up which would replace the Convention.
